We have paid N450bn debt we owe federal government – NNPC

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has said it has paid a N450 billion debt it owed the Federal Government.

According to its April 2017 Monthly Financial and Operations Report, released yesterday, the NNPC said the last tranche of the sum was paid in March 2017, after paying N6.33 billion on a monthly basis over several months.

To this end, the NNPC said it transferred N95.56 billion into the Federation Account during the month under review from the net domestic crude oil and gas receipt, including gas receipts of N2.23 billion.

The Federation Accounts Allocation Committee (FAAC) had in September 2011, resolved that the NNPC should refund over N450 billion in 32 installments after the NNPC said it withheld the money that should have been paid into the Federation Account as stipulated by law.

Furthermore, the April 2017 financials noted that NNPC’s receipts from domestic crude oil and gas in the month of April stood at N142.09 billion, consisting of receipts of N2.23 billion from domestic gas sale and N139.86 billion from domestic crude oil.

The NNPC noted that of its total naira receipt, N46.54 billion was transferred to Joint Venture Cash Call, JVCC, being a first line charge and to guarantee continuous flow of revenue stream to Federation Account.

On the other hand, the report stated that the NNPC recorded total export proceeds of $142.12 million in April 2017 as receipt against $404.55 million in March 2017.

According to the report, contribution from crude oil amounted to $71.81 million, while gas and miscellaneous receipt stood at $70.29 million and $0.013 million respectively.

The report, however, stated that the NNPC remitted the total export proceeds receipt of $142.12 million to fund the JV cash call for the month of April 2017 to guarantee current and future production.

It further stated that total export crude oil & gas receipt for the period of April, 2016 to April 2017 stood at $2.50 billion.

Furthermore, the NNPC said it recorded operating revenue of N327.47 billion in the month of April, compared to N354.65 billion in March; while its operating expenditure stood at N326.88 billion, dropping from N360.19 billion recorded in March.

To this end, the report said: “The April 2017 report indicated a trading deficit of N5.27 billion, representing 6.20 per cent decrease in deficit compared to the previous month’s deficit of N5.62 billion.

“This decrease in the deficit is mainly attributed to the decrease in NPMC/NPSC/ML expenses relatively, although depleted by lower Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (NPDC) and revenue.”